Where do I even begin to review this powerful book? The Gilded Ones is a creative and wondering debut novel which showcases fantasy, challenges alliances and questions the norms of society. This was a beautiful debut novel by Namina Forna and I am excited to see her future works.
Based on a West African-like society, women are grown to live in service of men and at the age of sixteen undergo a ritual to prove their purity to the people by spilling their blood. If the blood runs gold rather than red, they are deemed to be a demon and doomed to the Death Mandate, much like our protagonist – Deka – when we first met her in the novel. The women are then subject to such brutality and violence by the men that raised them, that loved them, that prayed with them - all because they are deemed 'impure' by the running of gold blood. Deka was rescued by a mysterious woman and taken to a training camp to become a warrior to fight against leathery monsters attacking the land. However, as her power and energy grew, Deka's knowledge of her identity and history grew with it. "Are we girls or are we demons?"
When I purchased this book, I knew nothing about the plot, the characters or even that it was part of a series. I just saw the beautiful gold detailing surrounding a Person of Colour on the cover page and just knew I had to have it! And even though they do say, don't judge a book by a cover, the stunning cover definitely left me with high hopes, and I was not left disappointed!
I was hanging on every moment, every page and every word. Even though there were so many harrowing moments, I couldn't stop reading and rooting for the protagonist Deka. I felt that the manner in which the Gilded Ones is written allows for the reader to put their shoes into the characters and be part of the novel itself. I was able to visualise, smell and hear the events of the novel and applaud Forna's ability to tap into the readers' senses through her descriptions of smells and sounds occurring in the book.
Every character had a purpose to the plot and shined through with their own back story and history. It was intriguing to see Deka process and understand the impact of her interactions with each character and how each character brought with them a lesson for her. There was so much representation within this book which was totally welcomed and accepted. The novel not only showcased women of all colours and races but introduced characters with diverse sexuality. It is rumoured that there will be more representation like this in the coming books in the series.
Although this is the first book in a series, this book effectively could stand alone on its own merit. The pace and timeline varied where days sometimes spanned over a couple chapters and months went by within a chapter and would have liked more focus on how Deka was trained and skilled.
The Gilded Ones is a dystopian coming of age novel which realistically discusses sensitive topics such as abuse, misogyny and racism whilst genuinely creating diverse characters, a thick plot and in-depth story. I would totally recommend getting a copy and jumping into this series as it's going to be one for the ages.
Trigger Warning: Rape, abuse, violence
Completed on: 23rd August 2021
Comments
Post a Comment